Cops: Carpentersville woman confessed to murder

A Carpentersville woman charged with murdering a guest at her 19th birthday party told police she did it to protect her younger sister, a detective testified Wednesday.

Jacqueline S. Loyola, of the 2100 block of Teepee Avenue, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the April 24 stabbing death of 20-year-old Kassandra Caceres of Aurora.

At an inquest Wednesday, Carpentersville Police Detective Jorge Gonzalez testified that Loyola admitted to stabbing Caceres in the back at least three times with a kitchen knife, as Caceres punched and kicked Loyola's 16-year-old sister.

Moments later, he said, Loyola called 911 and told a dispatcher, "I just stabbed somebody."

"She stated to me she was in fear her sister was going to be killed," Gonzalez said of a subsequent interview. "Jacqueline stated she did it to protect her sister."

Gonzalez said Caceres and Loyola were documented members of rival gangs, but that Loyola denied the slaying was gang-related.

He said the party turned violent after Caceres arrived with several friends from Aurora and lit a cigarette inside Loyola's home.

Gonzalez said Caceres was then escorted outside, where she began fighting with Loyola's sister, who was knocked unconscious.

"(Loyola) remembered stabbing her three times," Gonzalez said. "She stated she feared her sister was going to lose her life, and that's why she stabbed Kassandra."

Caceres was pronounced dead at 2:21 a.m. at Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Coroner's officials said she bled to death from a stab wound to the right lung.

Caceres' mother, Donna Ramos of Aurora, said Loyola and her daughter had gotten into a scuffle at a party just weeks before.

She described Caceres as a loving mother of two children, ages 1 and 5, who liked to party but wasn't violent.

"My daughter was no gangbanger," she said. "This could have been avoided. (Loyola) had no reason to do what she did. She did it in hatred and anger."

A coroner's jury ruled Caceres' death a homicide.

Loyola remained in the Kane County jail Wednesday on $250,000 bail, according to jail records. Her next court date is July 29.